Anakin watched it as the spirit circled his Master, with Obi-Wan trying not to take his eyes off it. After circling a few times it came to a stop in front of the Jedi. Both Master and apprentice watched in horror as it changed shape in the Force before their eyes. Instead of a ball of darkness, they could now see it as though it were visible to the naked eye. Its red eyes narrowed and its small, jagged mouth lifted into a evil grin.
"Ka..no..biii." a voice from nowhere said. "Ka...nobiii."
Anakin watched his Master's face go from fear to plain horror. Then the spirit demon flew into Obi-Wan's face. Obi-Wan fell backward onto his back as if hit, but Anakin could no longer 'see' the demon. He was about to see if his Master was alright when Obi-Wan kicked out on the floor. Anakin watched, shocked, as Obi-Wan writhed on the floor like he was having a seizure, but a look of sheer pain and horror on his face. Obi-Wan kicked out forcefully once more, then clamped his hands over his ears, his mouth open in a silent scream.
Obi-Wan's eyes opened once, but they were unseeing. Anakin then saw the spirit demon leave his Master's body, and it seemed to turn to admire the damage it had done to the strong Jedi. Obi-Wan lay on his back, his eyes now closed. He was unconscious, with an occasional, small, spasm.
Anakin whirled on the spirit, his blood boiling. When the demon began to turn to leave, Anakin stepped forward.
"So that's it?" he shouted. He knew he should control his feelings, but he could not. "You just come attack my Master, who by the way was not doing anything to you, then leave?" He pulled his lightsaber from his belt and ignited it. "Come on! Come fight someone who can fight back! Are you afraid? Afraid a mere Padawan will beat you?"
The boy didn't flinch as the demon spirit flew around his head like he had Obi-Wan. The face grinned at him, but did not attack.
"Sss....iiiiitttthhhhh." The spirit grinned once more, then took off down the hall. Anakin took one swing at it's departing form, but did not dare leave his Master. When he no longer felt the demon's presence, he shut off his lightsaber and rushed to his Master's side.
"Obi-Wan! Master! Wake up." Anakin pleaded, holding his Master's head in his arms. Obi-Wan did not reply, and if it weren't for his steady, but shallow, breathing, Anakin would have thought him dead. Anakin feared now that he would die. He also feared that the shadow demon would come back to finish him off. Cursing silently his predicament and not knowing what was wrong with Obi-Wan, Anakin grasped the shoulders of the larger Jedi's tunic and began to drag him out of the hall.
After what seemed like hours, Anakin finally got out of the halls and up the stairs to the entrance. He was hesitant to leave his Master, but ran to retrieve the Ithorian for help. He found a door in the direction Kelchu had gone and began pounding on it.
"Hello? Open up! We saw that spirit thing! Hello?" Anakin continued to pound until the Ithorian opened the door slightly and peered out.
"You saw it?" he asked in a small voice.
"Yes! It attacked my Master, but I don't know what's wrong."
The Ithorian's eyes widened. "He was attacked? Oh no." He turned away, and Anakin heard the mechanics in the door activate. He was going to shut himself in!
"Hey! What do you think you're doing? Obi-Wan needs help! You can't just abandon us like that!" Anakin slammed the palm of his hand against the door.
He heard the Ithorian's faint voice through the door. "I can't go anywhere near him! He's been infected by the dark side. Now leave him and get away from here."
"Leave Obi-Wan! No way! He's my Master! I can't just abandon him because he's sick, or injured or something like that!"
"Go, child! For you're own safety. You cannot help him, no one can help him."
"Thanks for nothing nerf-brain!" Anakin kicked the door in anger before returning to his Master. He sat on the floor for a while until an idea popped up in his head. He stood up and went up to the Ithorian's door. Igniting his lightsaber, he cut a large hole through it. When the metal peeled back, Anakin stepped through.
The Ithorian was curled up in the corner, eyes as wide as old memory discs. "It has made you mad! You're mad!" he screeched.
Anakin ignored the crazed Jedi and began searching the room. Along one wall was the control panel for the door and security. Thinking ahead, he opened the doors to the Memorial. He tried the comm, but all he got was static. He slammed it back onto the table and rounded on the Ithorian. He roughly hauled him off his feet by the neck of his thin tunic.
"You are going to help me, understand?" Anakin asked through gritted teeth. The Ithorian made no noise. "Listen to me!" Anakin began, but the Ithorian promptly fainted. Anakin snarled in frustration and dropped Kelchu onto the floor. Stepping over the limp body, Anakin began searching for anything that would help him. Finally, after twenty minutes, he found what was a treasure in his eyes, a grav sled.
He quickly pushed it out back onto the hall to his Master. He knew he would never be able to pick his Master up, so he shut the grav sled off completely so that it came to rest on the floor. Anakin roughly rolled his Master over until he was on the grav sled.
"I'm sorry, Master." the Padawan said. He turned the grav sled back on, and pushed it at a run out of the door. He then had to slow down as he tried to make his way back to the ship through the woods. It took him the better of two hours to reach the edge of the woods, where he stopped.
He couldn't just go walking through the town with his Master on the grav sled. People would think something was up. Reaching into the pockets of Obi-Wan's cloak, he pulled out the small bag of credits that was always there. He counted them out along with his own.
"Stang!" he shouted. He was two credits short of being able to get a rental speeder. Merchants on this planet were very tough, and even if you were one credit short, you couldn't get what you wanted. He sat in the grass for a moment, watching the people in the street. One grime-covered boy was following a man, his hands held outward. He seemed to be begging. Finally Anakin saw the man turn around and drop a credit into the boy's hand.
"That's it!" Anakin exclaimed. "I'll just ask for the credits." He turned to the still form of his Master. He slowly and carefully pushed his under a large bush. "No one will see you here. I'll be right back." Anakin didn't expect an answer, but he said it anyway. With that, Anakin turned and ran into the street.
The first person he approached was a woman in fine silk clothes. "Excuse me, ma'am." Anakin had said. "Can you maybe spare me one or two credits?"
She simply looked at his as if he were suddenly sprouting extra eyes and rushed away. Anakin continued to ask dozens of people, and only managed to get a piece of candy from one woman. Discouraged, Anakin sat on the curb with his head in his hands. He was staring of into space when a speeder came flying down the street, spraying rain water as it went. Anakin turned his face away from the water, and saw the answer to his problem.
Deep down in the drain, he could see the sun reflecting from numerous metal objects at the bottom. Credit chips. They were at least six feet down, and out of the reach of any normal person. But Anakin was a Jedi. Reaching out with the Force he lifted most of the credits up to the metal covering. Then he brought them to his hand, grasping them tightly. He stood up and ran as fast as he could back to his lookout in the woods. He quickly counted them and discovered that he had enough for the speeder, and a little extra.
After making sure no one had found Obi-Wan, he ran as fast as he could to a rental store he had seen earlier in the morning. As soon as he walked in the store owner stared at him intently.
Anakin walked calmly up to the counter. "Do you have any two-seater speeders?"
The large alien blinked at him, then turned to pull out a grimy datapad. He pressed a few buttons then turned back to the boy. "Yesssss. I do. But it will cossssst you one hundred sssssixty creditsssss. No lessssss. If you don't have it, turn around and leave."
Anakin counted out the credits and set them on the counter. The reptilian hissed at the fact that the boy had given him only small number credits. He slowly counted them to make sure. he looked up at Anakin. "Follow me. I will ssssshow you to the ssspeeder." The alien shuffled out from behind the counter and went out a back door. Anakin followed and saw the alien standing next to an ancient speeder.
The alien tossed Anakin a small card. "That activatessss the sssspeeder. You can't ssstart it without the card. You will bring it back in no more than two dayssss, or you will be charged a hefty late fee. Or something elsssse." he threatened.
"Don't worry, I only need it for one thing. I should be back with it today." Anakin said as he hopped into the driver's side. He started the speeder and was backing it out into the road.
"Well, don't essspect the fee to change!" the reptillian shouted after him as he sped away.
Anakin drove quickly, but carefully back to the woods. He pulled the speeder up into an opening in the trees, hoping no one had seen him. Anakin rushed to the bush and pulled out the grav sled. Obi-Wan was still unconscious, but was talking. Rambling was more like what he was doing. Anakin paid him no attention until he heard his name. He whirled to face his Master, thinking he had awakened, but Obi-Wan was still out.
"Anakin...failed...Anakin. Master...so....sorry...Sith...Anakin...Qui-Gon...no... NO!" he suddenly yelled. Anakin rushed to his side to see if he could help. Obi-Wan fell quiet, and spoke no more. When Anakin reached for him in the Force, he felt nothing. Obi-Wan was alive, or at least his body was, but Anakin could not find Obi-Wan. Search as he would through Obi-Wan's mind, he only felt a void where his Master's spirit had once been. This alarmed Anakin more than anything, so he hurriedly heaved his Master onto the speeder and slowly made his way onto the street.
Hitting the gas for all it was worth, Anakin sped down the road as fast as he could. He had to swerve a few times to avoid hitting pedestrians, but did not slow down until he had reached their ship. Anakin lowered the ramp and pulled his Master out of the speeder and into the ship. He clumsily put Obi-Wan on a med sleep-couch and then went to return the speeder. The alien was surprised, but pleased to have his vehicle back so quickly. Anakin then ran the rest of the way back to the ship.